Truth Social
Former President Donald Trump went on the offensive against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., possibly thinking the independent presidential candidate might take more votes from him than President Joe Biden in the November election.
Kennedy challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination before quitting and running as an independent. The political heir has a long history of liberal policy positions, but also holds views favored by some conservatives. He has accused big tech companies of censorship and is also a longtime opponent of vaccinations, inaccurately stating that vaccines cause autism.
“RFK Jr. is a Democrat plant,” Trump said on Thursday in a video posted on Truth Social. “A radical left liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the History of the United States get reelected. A lot of people think Junior is a conservative. He’s not.”
Trump called Kennedy an “anti-gun and an extreme environmentalist” before insisting Kennedy supports vaccines – as if that would be a negative.
“So, Republicans, get it out of your mind that you’re going to vote for this guy because he’s conservative,” the former president said. “He’s not. And by the way, he said the other night that vaccines are fine. He said it on a show, a television show, that vaccines are fine. He’s all for them. And that’s what he said. And for those of you that want to vote because you think he’s an anti-vaxxer, he’s not really an anti-vaxxer.”
For a brief time, Trump boasted about his administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which helped develop a vaccine for Covid-19 much sooner than experts thought it could be achieved. However, anti-vaxx sentiment among the conservative base has prompted the former president to memory-hole the initiative.
Last week, Trump suggested Kennedy would not do as much damage to Biden’s reelection chances as many people think.
“Look, RFK is polling very low,” Trump said. “He’s not a serious candidate. They say he hurts Biden. I don’t know who he hurts. He might hurt me. I don’t know.”
